Justice and Peace in Israel and Palestine

UUs for a Just Peace in Israel-Palestine (UUJPIP) is a social justice group of USG that is not currently active. We are an affiliated chapter of UUs for Justice in the Middle East (UUJME). Our mission is to work toward peace with justice in Israel-Palestine, affirming the equality, dignity, freedom, and human rights of all peoples involved. We emphasize the following UU Principles in our work:

1) the inherent worth and dignity of every person,

2) justice, equity, and compassion in human relations, and

3) the goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a longstanding conflict that calls on our dedication to justice, as both Unitarian Universalists and as U.S. taxpayers. U.S. citizens are directly connected to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through the roughly $3.5 billion in foreign aid given to Israel annually (Washington Post Sep. 26, 2016, “The U.S. Foreign-Aid Budget, Visualized”). As taxpayers of conscience, we owe it to ourselves to inquire whether our tax dollars are supporting a peaceful resolution or a prolonged conflict.

We have been building alliances with other organizations devoted to this issue, such as Jewish Voice for Peace, Christian Jewish Allies, and Main Line Unitarian. Among our activities to date have been:

hosting an educational workshop “Steadfast Hope” by Christian-Jewish Allies in Spring of 2016

hosting USG’s social justice theme of the month “Peace and Justice in Israel and Palestine” in November 2017

Events

Meet Our Minister

Kent Matthies is a life-long Unitarian Universalist who grew up in Oak Park, Illinois. Kent came to USG in 2002, bringing a vision for ministry that includes working for meaningful social change as well as providing pastoral care and meeting spiritual needs. More about Kent and other members of our staff.